It’s important to stop and reflect on your purpose and how you can bring it more to life. Whether it’s to be a better parent, or a more inspiring leader, or to play your role in your organisation living its purpose – the key is to think about what you can do differently to bring it even more to life every day.
I always loved the story of a housekeeper at the New York Ritz-Carlton living the company purpose ‘enlivening the senses’ - rather than simply cleaning up a room. As I heard it told….
A customer wrote to the Ritz-Carlton expressing his astonishment at the behaviour of the housekeeper during a stay in New York with his wife and daughter. After a day sight-seeing in the city, they returned to their room, only for the daughter to complain that her teddy bear was missing. After a quick search, they found it hidden in the towel cupboard, with a foil-wrapped chocolate clasped in its paws. The next day, the bear had disappeared again; the daughter found it under the bed with another chocolate in its paws. At the end of each day, for the duration of their stay, the daughter couldn’t wait to get back to the room to play ‘find the teddy’ with a housekeeping maid she never actually met. The customer wrote “it was the best part of her stay, and I’ll always remember that holiday fondly for one thing - the look on my daughter’s face of sheer delight every time we got back to our room.”
What can you do (even if it’s the smallest things) to help bring your personal, professional and/or organisation’s purpose more to life?